


Setting Up/Packing Down

by sweetcarolanne



Category: Freaks (1932)
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Circus, Clowns, Double Drabble, Extra Treat, Friendship, Gen, Magic, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 05:31:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18243347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetcarolanne/pseuds/sweetcarolanne
Summary: Two slices of life in a traveling circus, seen through the sideshow performers' eyes...





	Setting Up/Packing Down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nemirovitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemirovitch/gifts).



> Dear Nemirovitch, I hope you enjoy this treat as it is one of my favorite fandoms; I love the characters so much and I felt inspired to create something for you! 
> 
> Although Schlitzie was assigned male at birth I refer to the character as "she" as the character of Schlitzie in the film is regarded as female.
> 
> Many thanks to my anonymous beta.

For Schlitzie, setting up for her magic act was as thrilling as the actual performance.

Smiling widely, she arranged her cards and wand, and the large sack from which she, pointing and giggling, would have a hapless male audience member draw an oversized pair of men’s underwear. And when everything was ready, Schlitzie would decide which of her many pretty dresses to wear that night.

“Those aren’t mine, are they?” Phroso the clown inquired, pointing at the underpants. Schlitzie giggled and shook her head, jerking her thumb in the direction of strongman Hercules’s wagon.

Both of them fell about laughing.

 

The circus was getting ready to move on.

Roustabouts were pulling down the big top, and all the performers arranged their props and other possessions in their wagons to leave for the next town.

A sense of excitement was in the air as the sideshow people looked forward to new shows and new ways to impress audiences. Schlitzie, Elvira and Jenny Lee were the most elated of all, running about and giggling, helping to pack their pretty clothes and beaming expectantly at Madame Tetrallini, who oversaw their preparations.

“Soon, darlings – soon you will make everybody smile,” she whispered to them.


End file.
